29. The Megalomaniacal Emperor
China’s first emperor, Chin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC), pulled off the impressive task of ending China’s Warring States Period – five centuries of chaos and violent feudalism – by conquering all the warring states. He then combined them into a unified, peaceful, and efficiently governed centralized state.
However, unification, pacification, and efficiency, came at a high price: tyranny, crushing oppression, and cruel megalomaniacal rule that reduced millions of Chinese to de facto state slaves. As a result, even though Chin Shi Huang was the most influential figure in China’s history, he was also the figure most loathed by the Chinese for millennia.